Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

This role of being an example occasionally raises an issue of whether non-members (or even non-believers) can be involved in music ministry at all. However, in most cases, baptism and church membership are not viewed as a necessary prerequisite for joining a choir or 16 A. Popov, “The Evangelical Christians-Baptists...,” p 259. 7 In this work | am following the following definition of church discipline: It is a practice of the community of believers based on Matthew 18:15-18 (key text), Luke 17:3, John 20:22-23, Romans 16:17, 1 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 2:5-9, Galatians 6:1, 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14, 2 Timothy 3:2-5, Titus 3:10 and a few others. Church discipline has several aims: 1) helping fellow-Christians in their following Christ; 2) restoration of the fallen brother/sister back into the community; 3) resolving conflicting situations among the members. (Timofey Cheprasov, “Church Discipline,” in John H. Y. Briggs, general editor, A Dictionary of European Baptist Life and Thought (Milton Kenyes, Paternoster, 2009), pp 93-94). In Russian Baptist churches, “being on church discipline” means that the person is not allowed to participate in the Eucharist and business meetings of church members until he/she repents of the committed sin and restores broken relationships with the church. Unfortunately, the practice is often used as punitive, aiming at the elimination of sinful behaviour (this includes various sins mentioned in the Bible, as well as any other type of behaviour that is considered sinful by a particular community (it can go as far as the type of clothing that a person wears or the place where he/she works), rather than restorative, focusing at reaching out and healing person’s broken relationships with God and the church. 117 a praise band. Poetry and testimonies are also open to everyone, both men and women, both baptised members and those who have only begun coming to a church.”® The ministers of the Word and the problem of authority Unlike music ministry, to be a preacher one has to meet two conditions. Firstly, a potential preacher has to be a man.” Secondly, he has to be a baptised member of a Baptist church in good standing (not on church discipline). Often, these are the only conditions for a person to be approached and offered an opportunity to preach. Moreover, to be a preacher does not require theological/homiletical training. Preaching is seen not as a professional activity that involves training and preparation, but rather as a responsibility of every Christian man. Finally, it is worth noting that there is no special worship leader. Traditionally, this is a role of a pastor (or a senior preacher — the one who 18 Kargel’s views on the relationships between the believer and the Holy Spirit might be helpful to gaining an understanding of the expectations of the church in relation to people involved in ministry. Kargel speaks about the role of the Holy Spirit in giving th